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I have found that zh-CN and zh-CHS both of them can be used as language code, but why microsoft only tells me only zh-CHS can be used: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh456380.aspx.

Would it make any difference?

haimg
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jasonjifly
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1 Answers1

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There is quite a lot of confusion with these codes, because they all look similar but may mean different things.

If you take a peak in CultureInfo docs, you'll see that zh-CHS refers to a "Chinese Simplified" culture, and zh-CN is a more specific culture code which means "Chinese Simplified, People's Republic of China" (e.g. same language as used in a specific country, a child culture to zh-CHS parent).

I suppose it does not make sense to use country-specific culture code in the context of Bing translator (e.g. both cultures use the same language, but zh-CN is more specific and lets you distinguich Simplified Chinese in PRC vs Simplified Chinese in Singapore, zh-SG).

haimg
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  • Interestingly even zh-CHS and zh-CHT are considered legacy. Microsoft in future will prefer the IETF [zh-Hant and zh-Hans](https://blogs.msdn.com/b/shawnste/archive/2007/12/13/zh-hans-zh-hant-and-the-old-zh-chs-zh-cht.aspx?Redirected=true). – Dwayne Oct 25 '12 at 08:28
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    Why can Microsoft not be consistency with standard, it's very annoying – jasonjifly Nov 01 '12 at 09:07